Basket-style carriers are commonly employed to package beverage bottles. They typically include a separate cell for each bottle, from which the bottles can be readily removed, and a center handle panel for easily carrying the package. Contact between adjacent bottles is prevented by partitions which define the cells and by a center longitudinal partition in order to prevent breakage of the bottles. Normally, basket-style carriers of this type which are designed to hold four bottles are fabricated from blanks in which the side and end panels and the center handle panel are connected to each other in serial fashion to form an elongated rectangular arrangement, with the cell divider partitions being in the form of flaps connected to the top or bottom edge of the center handle panel. The formation of a carrier requires these flaps to be folded into place prior to the ends of the flaps being glued to the side panels to hold the partitions in place.
One problem with this arrangement is the extent to which the divider partition flaps extend transversely from the panel sections. This results in a web layout in which the blanks are relatively widely spaced from each other, resulting in a substantial amount of material usage. In addition, the relatively complicated gluing operation, made necessary by the transverse layout of the divider partition flaps, and the relatively slow speed of the moving web, made necessary by the need to initially fold the cell divider partition flaps into place, add to the cost of the carriers.
An object of the invention is to provide a four-bottle carrier which can be formed from a more efficient layout with respect to material usage and the required gluing pattern. Another object is to provide a carrier which is formed without first having to fold the cell divider partition flap into place before folding the side and end panels. A further object is to provide a carrier of this type which is capable of providing full protection to the packaged bottles.